11.001J Introduction to Urban Design and Development (MIT)
This course examines the evolving structure of cities and the way that cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas can be designed and developed. Boston and other American cities are studied to see how physical, social, political and economic forces interact to shape and reshape cities over time.
11.422 Downtown Management Organizations (MIT)
This course focuses on the origins, functions, and implications of downtown management organizations (DMOs), such as business improvement districts, in a variety of national contexts including the United States, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. It critically examines how a range of urban theories provide a rationale for the establishment and design of DMOs; the evolution and transnational transfer of DMO policy; and the spatial and political externalities associated with the local p
20.400J Perspectives in Biological Engineering (MIT)
This seminar-format course provides an in-depth presentation and discussion of how engineering and biological approaches can be combined to solve problems in science and technology, emphasizing integration of biological information and methodologies with engineering analysis, synthesis, and design. Emphasis is placed on molecular mechanisms underlying cellular processes, including signal transduction, gene expression networks, and functional responses.
7.27 Principles of Human Disease (MIT)
This course covers current understanding of, and modern approaches to human disease, emphasizing the molecular and cellular basis of both genetic disease and cancer. Topics include: The Genetics of Simple and Complex Traits; Karyotypic Analysis and Positional Cloning; Genetic Diagnosis; The Roles of Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressors in Tumor Initiation, Progression, and Treatment; The Interaction between Genetics and Environment; Animal Models of Human Disease; Cancer; and Conventional and Gene Th
The Other 9/11: Faith, Hope and the Media (with Simon Cohen)
What is the role and responsibility of the media in a post 9/11 era? How can we protect ourselves from images that leave us feeling helpless, fearful and insecure? In his presentation, Simon Cohen, Managing Director of the London-based Global Tolerance, drew out the example of the other 9/11; September 11, 1906, when Gandhi first deployed his method of nonviolent resistance. By comparing both anniversaries and their legacies he explored the unparalleled power of the media to influence perception
Islam and Liberal Democracy: How Tradition Matters (with An-Na'im, Jackson, Moosa, Esposito)
The Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and the Berkley Center sponsored a seminar with leading scholars to address how tradition matters in Islamic political thought today. The wide-ranging discussion considered how the Islamic tradition - including the Qur'an, the life and sayings of the Prophet, and diverse legal schools - relates to the idea of a liberal democratic state.
Proselytism and Religious Freedom: The Political Implications of Proselytism (with Al-Marayati, Daug
In the context of a globalizing world marked by the freer flow of people and ideas, proselytism has become increasingly controversial. On March 3, 2010, the Berkley Center sponsored a day-long symposium on proselytism and religious freedom in the 21st century. Experts from a variety of scholarly and policy fields investigated the theological, legal, and political implications of the missionary impulse.
Debating the War of Ideas: (with Afsaruddin, Ahmed, Phares and Patterson)
Debating the War of Ideas is a new book that brings together competing voices from across continents, religions, and political persuasions to present their understanding of the strife within the Muslim world and/or between Islamic and Western traditions?the ideas that so many around the globe believe are worth fighting, killing, and even dying for. This event included a panel discussion with chapter contributors Asma Afsaruddin, Akbar Ahmed, Walid Phares, Eric Patterson, and others.
Afghanistan's Religious Landscape: Politicizing the Sacred (with Kristian Berg Harpviken)
Afghanistan?s thirty years of war have seen the gradual and heavy politicization of religion, transforming the lanscape of religious authority, political process, and the Afghan statebuilding project.
24.960 Syntactic Models (MIT)
This course presents a comparison of different proposed architectures for the syntax module of grammar. The subject traces several themes across a wide variety of approaches, with emphasis on testable differences among models. Models discussed include ancient and medieval proposals, structuralism, early generative grammar, generative semantics, government-binding theory/minimalism, LFG, HPSG, TAG, functionalist perspectives and others.
20.482J Foundations of Algorithms and Computational Techniques in Systems Biology (MIT)
This subject describes and illustrates computational approaches to solving problems in systems biology. A series of case-studies will be explored that demonstrate how an effective match between the statement of a biological problem and the selection of an appropriate algorithm or computational technique can lead to fundamental advances. The subject will cover several discrete and numerical algorithms used in simulation, feature extraction, and optimization for molecular, network, and systems mod
STS.340J Introduction to the History of Technology (MIT)
This course is an introduction to the consideration of technology as the outcome of particular technical, historical, cultural, and political efforts, especially in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include industrialization of production and consumption, development of engineering professions, the emergence of management and its role in shaping technological forms, the technological construction of gender roles, and the relationship between humans and machines.
Patri Friedman on Seasteading
Patri Friedman, Executive Director of the Seasteading Institute, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about seasteading, the creation of autonomous ocean communities as an alternative to existing political and cultural forms. Topics discussed include the political and economic viability of seasteading, risks of piracy, the aesthetics of living on the ocean, and the potential impact of seasteading on conventional governments.
15.902 Strategic Management I (MIT)
This course focuses on some of the important current issues in strategic management. It will concentrate on modern analytical approaches and on enduring successful strategic practices. It is consciously designed with a technological and global outlook since this orientation in many ways highlights the significant emerging trends in strategic management. The course is intended to provide the students with a pragmatic approach that will guide the formulation and implementation of corporate, busine
1.201J Introduction to Transportation Systems (MIT)
1.201J/11.545J/ESD.210J is required for all first-year Master of Science in Transportation students. It would be of interest to, as well as accessible to, students in Urban Studies and Planning, Political Science, Technology and Policy, Management, and various engineering departments. It is a good subject for those who plan to take only one subject in transportation and serves as an entry point to other transportation subjects as well.
The subject focuses on fundamental principles of transportat
Don Boudreaux on Public Choice
Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about public choice: the application of economics to the political process. Boudreaux argues that political competition is a blunt instrument that works less effectively than economic competition. One reason for this bluntness is the voting process itself--where intensity does not matter, only whether a voter prefers one candidate to the other. A second reason is that political outcomes tend to be one-size-fits-all, w
21F.414 German Culture, Media, and Society (MIT)
The topic for Fall 2006 is short film and radio plays. This course investigates current trends and topics in German literary, theater, film, television, radio, and other media arts productions. Students analyze media texts in the context of their production, reception, and distribution as well as the public debates initiated by these works. The topic for Fall 2006 is German Short Film, a popular format that represents most recent trends in film production, and German Radio Art, a striving genre
Brady on the State of the Electorate
David Brady of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the state of the electorate and what current and past political science have to say about the upcoming midterm elections. Drawing on his own survey work and that of others, Brady uses current opinion polls to predict a range of likely outcomes in the House and Senate in November. He then discusses the role of recent health care legislation in the upcoming election as well as Obama's approval ratings. The conversation
11.800 Doctoral Research Seminar: Knowledge in the Public Arena (MIT)
This is a course about how research knowledge and other types of knowledge come to be actionable and influential in the world — or not. The course explores ways to make research knowledge more accessible, credible, and useful in the realm of public policy and practice, a project in which the course faculty collectively bring decades of professional experience, in both academic and non-academic roles.
The course addresses the politics of the policymaking process, the power of framing and ag
Afghanistan's Religious Landscape: Politicizing the Sacred (with Kristian Berg Harpviken)
Afghanistan?s thirty years of war have seen the gradual and heavy politicization of religion, transforming the lanscape of religious authority, political process, and the Afghan statebuilding project.
